Improvement in shipping and unshipping screw-propellers



2 Sheets-.Sheet 1.

G. LEAOH. SHIPPING AND UNSHIPPING SCREW PROPBLLERS. No, 108,800.

Patented Nov. 1, 18070.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. LEACH.

SHIPPING AND UNSHIPPING SCREW PROPBLLBRS.

No. 108,800. Patented Nov. 1, 10870.

anni sulla @anni ditto,

The Schedule referred to In these Letters yPatent: and making pa'rt ofthe same.

To all wlmm it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE LEACH, of Leeds,

in the county of York, England, have invented new and usefulImprovements i u the Mode of-aud Appai .ratus for Shipping andUushipping Auxiliary Sore-wlropellers while in deep water and do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, which will enable others skilled in the art tomake and use thesaine, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part ofmy specification. Y

The object of this invention is to facilita-te the shippingaudunshipping of the auxiliary screw-propellers used with or adapted tosailing-ships, for the purpose of 'assisting them in eahnsand otheroccasions when their sailing-gear is either useless or insutcicnt.

Heretofore the auxiliary screw-propellers adapted to sailing-shipsvcouldonly be shipped and-uushipped with diliiculty, great labor, andloss of time, accompanied with some danger to the crew of the vesselwhile carrying on the operation.

This unshipping operation is absolutely necessary when there is a fairwind, as auxiliary propellers under such circumstances are not requiredlto he used, and they would then be an incumbrance.

It is of importance, therefore, on the one hand, that auxiliarypropelleis should he capable of being removed easily and quicklywhernnot wanted for use,

so as not to interfere with the sailiru;` qualities of the ship, and itis, on the other hand, important that they should be so arranged as tobe available for use, without difficulty ormuch loss of time, whenrequired.

In carrying ont my invention, I prefer to employ twin propellers, or onepropeller under eac-l1 qua-rter, and I adapt vand'secure the propellerto thc shaft in such a manner that it can he easily detached therefrom,and brought on board, and stowedaway untill 'again required.

' To this end I aiiix to the'outcrfor after end of the 'boss of thepropeller a ballfand-socket joint, and I attach to the ball of thesocket a rope or chain, whereby the propeller,l when detached from theshaft, may

be hauled up on hoard.

In the accompanying drawing-- Figure 1, sheet 1, represents a side viewof the propeller in place ready for use..

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of'the same, rep rcsenting thepropeller unshipped, and being hauled up on board by means of the ropee.

Figure 2 is a sectional side view of the propeller,

showing tty on the shaft.

Figure 3 is a detaohedview of the'v end of sleeve shaft f, showing1rclutch g. Figure 4 is a detail side and face view of the-comi poundjam-nut 1f.

Figure 5 is a detail sectional view of the'front part of hollow shaftand wire rope,

Figures 6 and 6 are detail. sectional side views .of the wire rope d.

Figures 7 and 8, shcet`2, are'side views of a modification of myinvention, showing the parts in different positions.

Figure 9 is a top and side view, on an enlarged scale, -of theknuckle-joint used in the modification.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The boss c of thepropeller, and also the propeller-7 shaft, are showninsection in iig. 2, and also in some of the detached figures.

Through the central part of the propeller-boss a a taper hole is formed,as shown in fig. 2, to correspond with the taper end b' of the hollowshaft b, on which thi" propeller isl intended to -be 4mount-ed .when inusc.

This taper hole is enlarged and extended, at the front or leading end ofthe boss', into a trumpet# mouthed shape, for thepurpose 'offacilitating the entrance of the taper end b of the shaft l, and guidingit into the boss a.

'In the after or outer end of taper hole there is a socket, into which:is screwed a plug, o, to which a wire rope, d, or other equivalentdevice, is secured, and passes out through the trumpet-mouth, andthrough the hollow shaft b, Yinte the' vessel.

Another rope, e, is attached to a. ball, c', which works in a sphericalsocket in .a screw secured over the back end of the boss, so that, whenthe propeller is detached from the shaft b, it may be suspended by thetwo ropes d and e.

The rope d, o n issuing from the trumpet-mouth *end ofthe boss c,passes, through the hollow shalt b,

to the inside of the vessel, and' is secured there, in

the manner hereafter explained, so that, lby hauling upon this rope cl,the propeller may be drawn upon the taper end of the hollow shaft l),and securely held there, and afterward jammed up tight by the screws ornuts k, or other mechanical devices, placed inside thevessel, ashereafter explained.

The tightening of -the rope d is effected, as 4before mentioned, hymeans of the compound jam-nut la.

shown detached and-in pieces in iig. 4.

This nut is composed of a split nut, l 1, which lits on andscrews onto ascrew, 2, at the' inner endof the rope d.

The split not l 1 is also threaded externally, to receive the nut 3,which, when screwed onto it, holds the parts 1-1 together, and causesthe inner threads of the mit ,to fit and work on th'e screw at th'e endof the rope d. Then, `by screwing up the compound nut la, as shown inthedetached view', iig. 5, the rope d-is drawn l.in and tightened, and theboss a of the propeller is held securely ou the end ofthe hollow shaft11.

'.lhe propeller-,shaft b,.when inplace, requires to be connected withthe. driving-shaftj of the engine, in"v order to work or rotate thepropeller.

wTo this end the hollow shaft b is permanent-lyv fixed' in the part t'of a coupling, i z", shown detached at fig. 5, and, when these parts i',Ii' are secured in place by the bolts l l, the propeller-shaft will becon? nected to and made to rotate withthe drivin shaft j.

The wire rope al is' made nearlyto litt-he hollow propeller-shaft b bybeing serve-d or coated in the ordinary way, or otherwise covered, sothat-little orj no water will be admitted, thronglrthe hollow shaft b,into the vessel.

The propeller-shaft his incloscd within a sleeveshaft, f, and the twoshafts pass through and are supported by vthe long tubular bearing m,which passes from the inside to the outside of the vessel.'

' In order 'to prevent the propeller from slipping upon the taper end ofthe inner hollow shaft b when g clutch, n, in

snres the -rotation of the propeller wit-hout allowingthe lattcrto slipon the taper end of thc inner -shaft. T-hen itis desiredto unship thepropeller, `the .strain upon the'hauling-rope e must he reiieved, and

the outer shaft f driven ont against the boss a ofthe propeller, so as"to ease ofi the boss rt from the ta-j pcred extremity of the inner shaftb.

This is effected by removing an intermediate shaft which connects thepropeller-shaft b'to the drivingshaft j, as'shown in a detached part of,fig. 1, orhy disconnecting the' coupling i i', supposing -that thiscouples the two shafts b and j directly.

The shafts b and f may then be pushed fmward in their long tubularhearing qu, and access to th tightening-nuts k.

It will be seep that the` parts 13 i.' are connected together by meansof the hinged bolts l l, which drop into notches in the flange of thepart il of the coupling,`

andare heid secnite by the tightening-nuts at their ends.

- It will onlyfthcrethre, be necessaryto loosen the Anuts of thehingedbolts l l, and throwback the lat-4 ter, and the two parts i 'l' ofthe .coupling may then be drawn asunder, and access obtaincdto the inneren d of the rope'd, which'issuitaly secured in the tubular or bored-outend cfa coupling device, d", the other end of which has a screw-hole,d', tapped thereon, as shown in thedetached views, figs. i and f.

By this device an additional length of' 4rope, d, maybe temporarilyconnected to the end iof rope d.

When the additional rope d* is` thus connected withjthe rope d, the'tightening-nut l.; may be loosened and removed from the rope d'; then,upon turning the nut n, which works upon a screw on the end of thesleeve-shaft j, the latter will he moved forward on thcV shaft b, andwill ease the boss of the propeller on' the taper end of the shaft. l.and allhw it to behauled up bythe'ropc e.

The ball-and-sooket rope c' 'will then suicc to haul np the propeller ondeck, where it may be detached from the rope d, which has been drawuthrough the .hollow propeller-shafts b from the interior of thevessel.

The end-of the rope d must then vbe secured ou boauhready to beconnected with the propeller again.

mason when itfmay be' required t-o-reshp the latter. on its shaft.

As a modification of the' plan just described, thc propeller may besecured, in any convenient manner, to "a solid shaft, which is capableof being slidden in and out through thesstufiing-box or tubular bearingon, as shown at figs. 7 and 8, sheet 2. l

This solid propeller-shaft b must he provided with a knuckle-joint, soconstructed that it will not exceed the in and out of the stufugbox ortubular bearing.

This knuckle-joint is shown detached nponan enlarged scale, in sectionalelevation. and plan view, at fi". 9.

DThe hinge or point is made of several thin steel plates, t t t, whichare heldin plaee'n the wroughtiron shaft by means of pins or rivet-s.

The propeller is securedy on the end of the shaft by means of a key orcollar and a jamnut on the end, as shown at iig. 8, and over this isscrewed the balland-socket joint, to which the hauling-rope is secured.asin vthe former inst-ance.

In order to detach the propeller' from the shaft b',

box ortubular bearing, for which purposeau added shaft, b', must bescrewed into the'inner end of the propeller-shaft, which may then bepushed out of the tubular bearing until the knnekle-joint `is exposed.The propeller-shaftb, with thepropcller thereon, may then be turned upon this joint, as shown at fig. S, ix order that the propellermay belifted ont of the water, and detached from the shaft, and stowed awayuntil wanted, when it may'he again secured to thc shaft, and loweredinto its place.

When'the propeller has been detached .from the end of the shaft b, thelatteris to be loweredlaga-in into its horizontal position bymeans oftherope c' and ball-audsocket joint, whiclnwhen' the propeller has'heenremoved, must be reattaehed'to the end of :the piopeller-sl|aft b.A

The propellereshaft l) may then be drawn in board, through thestuiing-box or tubular bearin g, by means canse an impediment'to theprgress of the vessel through the water.

The added shaft b* may thon bc unscrcwed and re i moved from 'thepropeller-shaft. and stowed away until again required for use.

Having nowdescribed my invention of improvemen-ts in the mode of andapparatus for shipping and 'unshipping auxiliary screw-propellers whilein deep water," and havingI explained ythe manner f carrying thc sameinto effect,A

I claim asmy invention- 1. The mo'de, herein set forth, of mounting thepropeller on' its shaft so that it can be easily detached therefrom andhauled in board,"or 'adupted'tothe shaft, and secured thereon, asdescribed. v

l2. The combination of thepropeller with the hollow shaft 7), and theropes d aud'e, and the sleeve shaft f, together with the devices hereinset forth, or their equivalents,for holding the propeller securely onthe shaft.

3. `A propeller provided with a ball-andsocket joint and hauling-rope tothe end of a jointed or hinged shaft, which is capable ot' being movedlongitudinally in its bearings, for the purpose of unshippiug theprovpell cr,tzss hereinset forth.

In witness whereof, I, the said Gnonen- Lesen, 'have hereunto set myhand the 2d day of August, in

the year of our Lord 1870.

Witnesses: GEO. BEACH.

THOMAS Tonnen,

Solicitor, Leeds. WILLIAM HoMun CowLnY,

Clerk to Messrs. Richardso @t Tu rnc?. Solicitors, L eeds.

diameter of the shaft, and may, therefore, be pushed,

the, latter must be' pushed out through the stniing of the added shaftb, so that nothing. may project' outside beyond the stuing-box ortubular bearing, and

